Two accused in death, robbery of man at Chandler motel

Two suspects are now formally charged with first-degree murder and robbery, and are accused of beating, suffocating and cutting the throat of a Texas man who was staying at a Chandler motel.

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By Kim Morava

The Shawnee News-Star

By Kim Morava

Posted Jun. 22, 2013 at 9:00 AM

By Kim Morava

Posted Jun. 22, 2013 at 9:00 AM

Two suspects are now formally charged with first-degree murder and robbery, and are accused of beating, suffocating and cutting the throat of a Texas man who was staying at a Chandler motel.

Charged in Lincoln County District Court are Dominique D. Gill, 22, of Oklahoma City, and Keven Jimmy Ray Hallmark, 22, of Chandler.

Both are charged in the death of Sam Brock, 41, from Odessa Texas. The homicide was reported June 7 at the Lincoln Motel, located along Route 66 in Chandler.

Prosecutors have filed a charge of first-degree murder, deliberate intent, or an alternative charge of felony first-degree murder. The deliberate intent charge accuses both defendants “of beating, suffocating and cutting the throat” of Brock, who was staying at the Lincoln Motel. The alternative felony murder charge alleges they took Brock’s life during a robbery.

Both suspects remain jailed without possibility of bond and are scheduled to appear in court again in July.

According to arrest affidavits in the case, Gill was arrested after allegedly crashing the victim’s pickup in Creek County the day of the homicide. Hallmark was later tracked down and arrested at an abandoned mobile home in Chandler, where investigators found him with bloodstains on his T-shirt and in possession of the victim’s laptop, warrants show.

The investigation was launched when Brock’s body was found face down with what appeared to be a fatal throat laceration, with a large fixed-blade knife found near the body, the warrant shows.

Brock, who was a guest of the motel, had registered with a vehicle displaying a Texas license plate. When that Dodge pickup wasn’t found parked at the motel, police entered it into a national crime database and began a search for that vehicle.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol had discovered Brock’s vehicle was in a crash near Kellyville in Creek County. Troopers had Gill, the believed driver, in custody, after finding him walking down a road near the pickup.

During a search of Gill’s person, troopers found items including a set of keys to a room at the Lincoln Motel in Chandler, the paperwork shows. He was transported to Chandler for further questioning about the homicide and it was discovered he was an occupant of another room at the Lincoln Motel a day earlier. There, investigators found a bloody handprint on the entrance door, while a search of that room resulted in authorities finding two cell phones, with one of those belonging to the victim, the warrant reads.

Authorities also noticed a small amount of blood on his coat sleeve, the warrant shows, but Gill said the jacket wasn’t his property.

As investigators from Chandler police and the District 23 Drugs and Violent Crimes Task Force worked the case, they later interviewed two people staying in another room at the motel.

Page 2 of 2 - Those two witnesses reported having dinner with Brock about 6 p.m. June 6 and further identified Hallmark as one of two men who came to their room that night when one of them borrowed Hallmark’s phone to make a call. The probe eventually led authorities to an abandoned mobile home where they encountered Hallmark.

“Investigators immediately saw large spots of what appeared to be dried blood on Hallmark’s shirt,” the warrant shows.

After he was taken into custody, a laptop computer, believed to belong to the murder victim, along with backpack, was found and seized.

Both defendants are scheduled to appear in court July 11, where a preliminary hearing date should be set.